Loving School, Hating Busywork

Pin It I am having a hard time not being a hater of preschool. I have scoured too many blogs where I see moms creating lapbooks, doing unit studies and 90 different things with play dough. Honestly, I don't really care if other moms want to do that. It is all about your motives, but it seems so crazy to me. My kids love to play, read books and anything to do with learning. I want to keep it that way. I want them to LOVE to learn and not have to sit at my dining room table for an hour until they get a concept right.

"Cut, my man, CUT"

I just think it is so wrong to evaluate a 4 years old on how well they can cut or color. Do we think they will never learn to cut? Will they be sixteen and have not learned to draw straight line? If they really love books and when you read to them they will be motivated to learn their ABC's.

That being said, we ARE doing school this year. Not because I think they need to meet certain standards, but mostly because they are kids and they get bored and start bugging each other if they are left to play all day. We need to have a schedule or mom and everyone else struggles. When we move from thing to thing it keep the day interesting and gives us some sort of structure. I want my boys to know how to sit quietly and play and I have a ton of fun things that I would love to do with them.

We start our school time asking, "why do we do school?". The answer is to love God, to praise God, and to obey God. If we are not doing that then it is pointless. The main focus of our school time is the Word of God. I know my kids will learn to cut and color, but they will not know the word of God with out some active memorization and study. We are memorizing scripture and reading bible stories as much as we can!

So... here are a few pics from the first day of school!

 Recess! Except the dress code was very informal, if not, nonexistent. 

"MOM, we were making mud." Of course you were. 

Reading about Adam and Eve and coloring... or swording...

The View From My Window

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I love looking out the window over my kitchen sink. My mom had a window over her kitchen sink in the house we grew up in that looked right into our backyard.

Mine does too.

I find myself there quite a bit looking over my little ones playing, or fighting, or surviving out there. Today I was remembering my mom shouting from that window. I know, I can hardly believe she yelled either. I seem to have blocked out all unhappy childhood memories and can only remember my mother as a saintly lady who raised six kids.

However, I can remember our backyard...

"Stop slapping each other"

"Laura, don't hit your sister with the tether ball... or put it around her neck"

"Don't come in this house like that"

"Julia, Krista does not want to play circus with you again."

"Give everyone a turn threw the sprinkler and where is Alisa's swimsuit?"

"The doors are locked and your not coming in unless it is an EMERGENCY (A.K.A bleeding)"

Hmmmm.... sounds quite similar to my shouting through the window.

Today as I was watching and thinking... I watched the boys share, Abigail come in and out of the sandbox and then wander off to something else. The hose get turned on, the hammock get turned over (with a few kiddos on it), the yard being FULL. Even though this full house seems too crowded at times, today I was thankful for the noise and the playing and the punishing.

That noise and these kiddos are forcing me to be less selfish and more patient. They are helping me to chose joy even on the days that I don't feel like it. Now when I look at the window I can be reminded of this journey to holiness.

Corn is READY!

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I went for a leisurely walk through the garden last night... and noticed the corn was quite large. YUP... it was ready and so we dropped everything and picked it. It turned out to be our entertainment for the night. We brought some to the neighbors, ate it, husked it, flossed it out of our teeth and got it ready to freeze this morning. 
I love and hate doing corn. I love it because it is easy to freeze and beautiful, but I hate corn because you have it stuck to you instantly and your house is trashed with the first swipe of a knife. Soooo... I started at 6:00 this morning and was done before breakfast. I needed to avoid the heavy morning traffic.

I had some great helpers...

 Amazingly cute

 Ummm... mom can you get some floss for me? These baby teeth are killing me.

One of our piles

All of the kids husked corn..even Abigail got two completely husked. She is a huge asset to the team.

They got paid in corn.

My recipe for freezing came from my Aunt Carol. It is so easy now all of my sisters use it too.

16 C. corn

5 C. Ice cold water

1/3 - 1/2 C. Sugar

2 T. Salt

I used 1 cup of lukewarm water and dissolved the sugar and salt into it and let it sit for a while. Then I added 4 cups of ice cold water. I just used my sauce pot to mix it together because it is BIG, but don't be deceived... there is NO COOKING that needs to happen.

Then I scooped two cups into quart bags (another tip: use name brand so they don't leak in your freezer...soooo sticky). I flatten them so they store better and then freeze them. One batch makes about 8 bags and you need about 32-40 corn to make a batch (depending on the size).

Yea! My garden came through... even if it did get neglected a bit! Hey, it was a baby year. That is all that needs to be said. It is a miracle there is anything that survived.

The Garden Shed...Turned Office ( Now...The Shoffice)

Pin It Here is a little update on our summer garden shed project that is being switched into Justin's office. It looked like it would be quite a simple job, but I am learning that is never the case. Granted, this is my husbands project ad I really have done nothing, but I occasionally watch our children for him.

The boys have loved every minute. Our house is Grand Central Station with people and JOBS. The kids love all the work that is happening out there. An occasional backhoe or cement truck has made this project like a Christmas present everyday as we wait to see what each day brings.

The PROJECT:

• Rip out old sidewalk and add new one that went all the way to the Shoffice
• Put up gutters and dig trenches for the water to go away from the basement
• Add dirt and landscaping in front of the house
• Put a new door and window on the Shoffice
• Paint
• Add carpet
• Find a desk and chairs
• Install heat and AC
• Run electric

Here are a few before pics...

What the front of the house looked like before we started

I didn't get a picture of the sidewalk before, but it was little, and only went to the front porch steps

The front of the office had two beat up doors and we replaced them with one door and a window

The inside. It was  dry walled to begin with, but it needed to be cleaned, painted and have carpet put in

Dirt and peet moss where added to the front for the new bushes

The beginning of the new sidewalk

We decided to add a little patio in front of the office while we had a concrete truck at our house

The (almost) Finished Pictures

Yea! We are celebrating the end of a VERY LONG project. A few more paint touch ups and it will be done (but are these projects ever completely done?).

If My Kids Only Say One Thing About Me...

Pin It I hope it is this:

"As we were born one by one, instead of preaching its (the Bible) advantages and spiritual benefits to us and then letting us make our own decision, he simply told us to read it and told us how much to read. We will thank Father and Mother for persevering with us and making us do it. In fact, we will not only thank them all our days on earth, but if  people thank people in Heaven, we'll probably thank them throughout eternity. It wasn't through philosophy, or psychology or psychoanalysis that we really learned to live and know God, it was the Bible read plain an simply without comment, at regular times everyday."

The Broken Leg

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Here they are in all of their glory... the broken leg pictures.

Dad trying to keep her busy

Playing in her bed. Is that hospital gown not the cutest thing ever?

Still waiting... so we found a wagon to pass the time

All done! A little slushy for a treat!

The most precious child int the world.

The story

We went on a date and came home to the babysitter telling us that she thought Abigail might have sprained her leg. She had run into her brother and fallen and didn't want to put weight on it.

The next morning I got her out of her crib and she hit the floor and soon as I set her down. Whoops... I had forgotten about the leg. By mid-morning we knew something was still wrong and headed to the hospital to get X-rays. No problem... they would call us with the results, probably nothing I thought. So... we came home, did lunch, put everyone down for naps and I headed out to run some errands. Thankfully, I checked my phone because I put it on silent and I had three messages from the doctor. "Yes, it is broken... and you need to head to Devos Children's Hospital, they are expecting you." WHAT???? DEVOS???? That is a 2 hour drive and it was already 1:30 in the afternoon. Come to find out, no other hospital will put a cast on a 18 month old and she needed it on ASAP. Justin hopped off the lawn mower and into the car, we grabbed Abigail, the boys went to Nana and Papa's and we spent the evening of Justin's birthday in the ER.

The results... Three weeks in the LARGEST CAST IN THE WORLD, a screaming, heavy daughter, and many tears. Then, three weeks in a short cast ( I am already in love with this short cast and I haven't even met it yet).

I told my mom on the phone... it will be fine, I probably won't even remember this in 20 years and she said... "But maybe you will." Let's hope it isn't that bad.

The broken leg is just another addition to the craziness around here!

Spending Time with Dad

Pin It  Since the arrival of our newest little treasure dad has really stepped up to the plate with our other three littles. Our house is a constant buzz of activity and the minute he walks in the door after work he hops into "POWER DAD" mode. It literally takes all of both of our energy and efforts to go anywhere... church, over to some ones house for dinner, or most recently, a 3 day trip to Pennsylvania (that is another post).

I have learned to let go of my aspirations to spend a lot of quality time with our older ones during this season of life, and  for now, Justin is getting to enjoy the fruits of special time with the kids. He always has one of the boys with him now and they are loving the extra dad time they are getting.

Golfing has seemed to be the activity of choice when mom needs a break and the house needs to be quieted down for a few hours. The boys love to be on the course with their dad and soak up the time with him. I look at these pictures and I envision the day the boys will be grown and out of the house and they call their dad to meet them on the course. I dream and pray over the conversations, character training, and teaching that will occur on that lush, green grass.

For now, I am happy and thankful just for a few minutes of peace and quiet, but I know in the future that time with dad on the course will mean so much more to them.

My favorite pic... both boys trying to keep up with dad!

Reusing Tissue Paper

Pin It After my Grandma came to visit I got to work on my tissue paper pile. She is the one who taught me how to salvage tissue paper so it is always on my mind after she stops in.

It is very simple. IRON. I put all of my tissue paper that I get from baby gifts with my ironing pile and after I'm done with my ironing I unplug the iron and spread my tissue paper out on my ironing board and smooth it out with the iron. It looks like new afterwards. Then I fold it up and store it away with all of my gift bags to be re-gifted at a later date.

I have not bought tissue paper since I got married. Four kids in four years = a lot of tissue paper.

A couple tips:

• If you have water in your iron...dump it out. Water and tissue paper do not mix.
• If you just want to do the tissue paper, put it on the lowest heat setting your iron has.
• If the paper is ripped to begin with, throw it out. No amount of ironing will make that piece look like new.

Great-Nana

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My Grandma came to visit me yesterday. She is 85 and she drove 2 hours just to come see our newest addition. You would think after 20 great-grandchildren from my parents family alone some of the excitement would wear off. But... no, I guess it doesn't.

To my kids she is Great Nana and she did not disappoint. She came through the door with a treat (when we were kids we would always run out to her car because we new she would have a treat for us).

That is all I accomplished yesterday. A visit with grandma. There is something exceptionally special about sitting with the lady who sat with your mom when you were born. Hannah got the same cuddles and back scratches that I got when I came home from the hospital. Thanks Gram for stopping in!

The pictures started out with Great Nana and Hannah

Then Abigail needed to slide into the picture. She is too much... look at that smile

And then cousin Alisha slid in next. It was a couch full of fun!

My Love/Hate Relationship With Not Being Able To Do It All

Pin It By the end of each day I fall into bed thinking I can't do this. I can't even take care of my own kids for a whole day. I can't keep my eye on all of them, I can't keep the peace and a consistent amount of discipline.

This house is in survival mode most days. 

As I was washing the floor today (a reviling in the sheer miracle it was that I was accomplishing this task) I started to think about how good it was for me to not be able handle four kids with out a lot of help and prayer.

If I didn't have four kids, four years and under, I wouldn't really need my mom's help, but I REALLY NEED MY MOMS HELP. I can appreciate her with such gratitude that her week here will be forever imprinted on my mind.

If we didn't have four little ones, I wouldn't need my husband to step in like he has. Before Hannah I could do the kids by myself. If he wanted to take one or two with him for a ride or to work on something it was a nice break, but now he must have a child connected to him at all times. If he is working outside, they are working outside. If he is going to town, a child is going to town with him. He puts them to bed, brushes teeth, changes diapers, and disciplines when he walks through that door. I could do all those things before, but now that I can't I am loving the extra help.

If I didn't have four LITTLE kids, it wouldn't be that big of a deal if they were unruly and wild, but four unruly, wild kids is not going to happen in this house. The large family mentality is a beautiful thing. Where I might let things slide for one or two kids, I won't with four. It is a built in accountability child training. I take one or two children with me everywhere I go now too. To the doctor's, grocery store, and a million other errands. A few mom and son visits to the chiropractor is great practice for sitting quietly and playing. The store rules are easy to instill in one child at a time so when I do need to take them all they should have their correct store behavior down pat.

So... I hate that life is changing and the things I used to be able to simply do (wash the floor) I can't do anymore, but I love that it is forcing me to be creative (now Abigail sits on the couch for 20 minutes instead of doing it while she is sleeping) and be a better mom. Sometimes I am sad that I might never go to Wal-Mart alone again, but I am thankful I am not missing an opportunity to teach. I used to hate sitting around on a perfectly useful Saturday, but now I am blessed to watch four healthy kids play with their dad.

As our family grows it is amazing to see how God softens my personality and forms me into the women I need to be to reflect Christ to this home.

Rodeo (radio)

Pin It Two of my over-achieving sisters put on a rodeo every summer. 6 weeks in the summer... and my hubby and I do the concessions. Rodeo concessions are a very interesting phenomenon and deserve a post of their own (I am convinced it is something similar to the carnival lifestyle).

My boys are in love with the rodeos and Jackson can't seem to remember it is called a rodeo, he calls it the Radio. Spencer knows what he is talking about and they never miss a beat when Spencer is preparing for the Rodeo and Jack the Radio. My mom so lovingly took my boys to each show, helped them ride in their events and then sprayed off their layers of dirt around 10 p.m.

The horses are only one part of the fun, the other pull for the rodeo is that it is full of cousins and friends and it is a PARTY. There are treats, dirt, prizes, tractors, animals, four wheelers, late nights, and lots of wild little boys (and a few wild little girls in the making).

Thanks to my sister Laura for grabbing a couple shots for me while I slaved away behind the taco meat.

 Abigail was allowed one rodeo, but otherwise just the boys were enough for Nana to keep an eye on.

One of the favorite "best cousins" John Paul

My dirty, oldest child (with his shirt on backwards)

Another pull to the rodeos and Jack's "best cousin" David Roscoe

Uncle Chris leading Jack through the barrels

A very happy contestant

Spencer taking his turn with Uncle David

Just a few of the hooligans who run around the arena

I Don't Want To Forget...

Pin It There are a number of things about having a baby that I hope to forget and as women we all are very aware of those things. The after-belly (our kids asking if the baby is still in there), cramping, back going out (is this just a special treat for me?), leaking, no-sleep and cereal for every meal. However, that is a small price to pay for the beautiful fake-sleep smile of a newborn, their yummy smell, swaddled teeny-tiny body, and siblings who fight over whose turn it is to hold her.

Why do majority of women in our society choose to talk about the negatives of birth and new babies? You become some sort of hero if you have more then two kids, like your body has completed some miraculous feet. Believe me, I know it is hard on you. Four kids in four years has not left my body in the Olympian condition I strive to appear in. The truth is, and this should be told, the positives far outweigh the negatives. If women don't want to have more children, that is fine, but lets forget how fabulous a newborn is.

Lets not forget to talk about that with each child we receive new blessings. If we only ever talk about the negatives of birth, that is all we will remember when we think about our babies. Instead of saying "oh, no, I never want to do that again" I want to say "that was such a special time for our family, I never want to forget it".

Here are our positives of this little blessing:
- My husband calling me every day from work when we get close to delivery wondering if there is anything going on in the labor department (he is strictly business on any other day)
- Heading to the hospital knowing you will be having a new little one in a matter of hours
- Talking to your kids about a new sibling
- My mom combing my hair in the hospital bed
- The look in my husbands eyes when he sees our child for the first time
- Visitors
- Babies first bath, feeding, snuggle
- Introducing a new baby to their brothers and sister and seeing them love her without even having to think about it (Spencer willingly admitted, on his own, that he loved Hannah more then his Nutragrain bar... it is too much cuteness for a mom)
- Looking over from the couch and seeing a newborn in a bassinet
- Waking up in the morning to a little bundle next to you
- Taking is slow for a few weeks, staying at home, and enjoying the auto-pilot it requires to adjust to a new baby
- Basking in the one load of laundry you did that made you feel you achieved something for the day
- Seeing your heart as a mom change as you have to give more and expect less and you realize this new little one is gently forcing you to be more like Christ (or be the crabbiest person alive... you choose)

That last one is the big thing for me. Marriage first, then every child after, has drawn me closer to Christ. I realize I can't do it alone, it is too much for me to handle. I get into my word and find what God's Truth has to say about a situation. The Truth is... God never gives me more then I can handle, the JOY of the Lord is my strength, GIVE THANKS in all things, remember the cross, pray, pray, pray. 

Hannah Lynn

Pin It God has blesses us with another beautiful, healthy little one. She was born on 7/11/12 at 2:30 and weighed 6lb 11 oz, and was 20' long. Hannah Lynn Bartlett. 

These pictures say it all:

Bright eyed right away... such a blessing

Cuddling with mom

What a beauty. We can't get enough

The whole family was there. Thank you Nana and Papa Bartlett for watching the troops.

Proud Big Brother #1

Proud Big Brother #2

Nana Bartlett looks pretty good after having three little kids for 2 days

Papa came too!

Aunt Julia and Uncle David stopped in to say hi

Dad snuggling. He loves his new babies and how they cuddle up.

Aunt Laura and Aunt Alisa came by too. And lets not forget Nana and Papa Horses who woke up at 1:00 a.m. when we were headed up to the hospital and almost beat us there. They trudged on threw the night and the afternoon waiting for that baby with us. Mom combed my hair, rubbed my feet, brought me chap stick, snacks, gave advice, ran for food and drinks, and stuck it out with us. We could not be more thankful for our families. I don't know how we could have done this without there help, love and support.

 We are very blessed!